Characterised by its kauri trees, it was named after James Trounson, who gifted the forest to the Department of Conservation.

Trounson Kauri Park forms a discrete area of native bush set within a rolling rural landscape and rises to a maximum height of some 300 metres.

Although not prominent from within the wider landscape, the scale of the vegetation, most notably the kauri accentuates this feature.

In the 1890s, a 3.34-hectare (8.3-acre) stand of kauri forest 36 kilometres (22 mi) north of Dargaville was reserved.

[1] Native birds such as tūī, New Zealand pigeon, morepork, tomtit and grey warbler are common, whilst rarer birds such as North Island kākā and North Island kōkako persist in small numbers.